I take advantage of the Thanksgiving holiday to explore some waterfalls. The rain holds off and the clouds don't deter me although climbing down to the base of some falls is quite an adventure.
We decide on Albion Falls and Chedoke Falls in Hamilton. Albion Falls, below, has a number of stages and is a nice looking waterfall with pretty easy access and parking. Albion is one of my favourite waterfalls - it has a number of steps in it, with a large cascade at the bottom. The creek does a quick S bend as it cuts through the valley, exposing the various layers of sedimentary rock.
Here I am in front of Albion Falls.
Later Joe Fresh and I head to Chedoke Falls which is harder to get to. There are stairs into the river valley but we don't know where they are so I take the hard way down. The erosion at the base of this waterfall is amazing. I grab some of the shale and clay and it just crumbles in your hands. The shale and clay layers are sandwiched between hard limestone otherwise erosion would have destroyed the escarpment in no time.
Chedoke Falls is one of the storm drainage outlets for Hamilton mountain built over old creek beds which were buried underneath the surface in concrete culverts. Catchbasins, storm drains and downspouts are tied into the pipes leading to the edge of the escarpment. Some adventurers have explored part of the network of large stormpipes that spill out their waters at the waterfall - which can be a dangerous hobby.
